 Ntini was last out, bowled first ball, in a total of 84 |
South Africa coach Mickey Arthur admitted his side had been taught a lesson in the first Test by India, who lead by 311 at 146-5 after two days. "India showed us the right lengths to bowl on this pitch," he said.
"We have not got our lengths right throughout this Test. We have played a lot of one-day cricket, and bowled largely one-day lines and lengths here.
"At the same time, some of the shot selection and the application wasn't perhaps where it should have been."
Arthur, who saw his side claim an impressive 4-0 victory in the preceeding one-day series, recognised India's star quality would emerge sooner rather than later.
"We knew that they had been badly wounded after the one-day series, and we discussed every day the prospect of them fighting back," he said.
The coach also gave a special mention to Sourav Ganguly, returning for his first Test in 10 months, who scored an invaluable unbeaten 51 from 101 deliveries when others were departing around him.
"We had our plans, but we couldn't execute them properly," Arthur said. "But hats off to Sourav, he came in and did a very good job."
Arthur revealed that there were some frank exchanges after the batting collapse, which saw Sri Sreesanth claim a Test-best 5-40.
"It was a poor day overall, and everyone has owned up responsibility for what happened," he said. "We had a chat about it in the evening, and hopefully, there are big scores to come soon."
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